New York Mets

I read one your articles already and I must say you are like almost every other sportswriter in this town in that you take one insignificant quote from a player or coach, make a big deal about what he or she said, and blow it up into this mammoth size article with a lot of fluff. It’s getting to be so old and frankly annoying.

First I want to comment on your article about Eli Manning entitled The Book on Elikeidel-the-book-on-eliin which you criticize him for saying he’s in the same class as Tom Brady. First of all and probably the biggest reason why all the backlash, including yours is so laughable is that this was a leading question by the interviewer. He was asked by the interviewer if he thinks he is in the same class as Brady. Now I don’t know if you people in the sports media have nothing better to do but ask leading questions of which you already know the answers to, but that is clearly what happened in this case and it just seems pointless. Why ask a simple question of which you already know the plain and simple answer, merely to try to invoke an emotional response just so you and the rest of the sports media can write a ton of articles and columns espousing why the response was unwarranted? Obviously Eli Manning is not as good a quarterback as Tom Brady so why ask him if he is in the same class as Tom Brady unless you anticipate that an affirmative response will generate a lot of negative media attention and its your next big story for the next week? I can not think of a reason. That is shameful. It is just shameful. And then to read all these columns, including yours, explaining why Eli Manning is not as good as Tom Brady is just mind numbing. They go on forever it seems and its only in response to one quote. Sports media is so overly reactionary in present day and what is sports except emotions. Sports is all about emotions and the media capitilizes too much on players and coaches emotions, jumping all over them for one quote. I am sure a bunch of emotions went into that response by Eli: feeling of rivalry, pride, overconfidence, a dislike of the patriots. Just because he says it doesn’t mean its the truth and if he believes it fine. But you cant expect a person, especially a professional sports star in New York to always be humble and say what you think is the right all the time, especially regarding a statement as inconsequential and trivial as this. And that is the most imporant aspect of this. The question was leading and pointless and the response was emotional, trivial, and inconsequential. In the end, it its a statement reflecting how Eli Manning feels about himself, and the bashing from journalists such as yourself is unnecessary and unfortunately it has become so mainstream with the American sports media today.

I knew it. I knew it all along. Lebron James and Dwayne Wade are fed up with the media and frankly they have every right to be. The media overhypes this team and they overhype James and then they slam him so hard its not even funny anymore. Frankly, it’s repulsive and disgusting and I’m so tired of it. Its amazing how the majority of people don’t believe Wade when he says that the recent coughing show he and Lebron put on for the cameras was in no way meant to disrespect Dirk. What do Wade and James have to gain from disrespecting Dirk Nowitski? The Mavericks defeated them two straight game in the fourth quarter. Lebron has completely underperformed while Dirk played lights out even while fighting a fever. HELLLLLOOO. Dirk totally owns them while battling a fever and then people draw the conclusion that their little coughing fit was to make fun of Dirk’s illness????If anything Dirk should be making making fun of them.

Wake up and smell the roses people. Who do Wade and even more so James hate more than anyone else in the world right now?ITS THE MEDIA. They hate this national media that has been on their case from day 1 and will never shut up about every little thing they say, every little thing they do, still won’t shut up about The Decision, having this whole stupid debate about Lebron and Michael Jordan for no good reason, putting Lebron on a pedestal and then slamming him down every chance they get just because its the popular thing to do. The negative media attention of Lebron James is on par with that of Anthony Weiner and you tell me do both those guys deserve the same amount of negative press?

Wade and Lebron staged this little act because its a subtle and clever way to demonstrate just how much of an absurd magnifying glass the media has on the two of them, particularly James. Its a way of saying “Screw you media” without actually saying it. But people have so much hatred and vitriol for James and the Heat, that they are quick to dismiss this act as a disrespect towards Dirk Nowitski.

And the media did just that. They blew it up like a hot air balloon and now everyone hates James and Wade and the Heat even more.

Lebron James comments reveal even more “I’m not feeding into that, If you guys want to feed into everything that not only myself or D-Wade or the Miami Heat do, I think that’s a non-issue. There’s bigger issues in this series than that.”

Lebron James despises the media right now and for good reason. Im completely convinced they’re in his head and its affected his play and he hates them for that. I’m not saying its an excuse buts let’s be honest he’s only been the most scrutinized sports superstar ever in the history of professional sports and that takes its toll. Michael Jordan did not play in the age of mass media and tweeting and he also didn’t have the media overhype that Lebron James has had. There’s so much more pressure on Lebron James than there was on Michael Jordan and thats not Lebron’s fault. Its the media’s fault.

I will leave you with this. Who’s winning this series? Who deserves some credit? THE MAVERICKS. DIRK. There’s so much negative press on James and Wade that the team that actually won games 4 and 5 isn’t getting the credit they deserve from the media or the fans. Lebron said it himself referring to the coughing act, “There’s bigger issues in this series than that.”

All the kudos go to Fred Wilpon for finally knocking David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran the way they all deserve to be knocked. In a recent interview done for the New Yorker, the owner of the Mets finally comes out into the open takes a hard and controversial stance regarding the performances and future expectations of the three marquee players.

On Jose Reyes, Wilpon dismisses the notion that his current shortstop is going to get a Carl Crawford like contract from any team let alone the Mets.

On Carlos Beltran, Wilpon refers to himself as a “Schmuck” for overpaying the center fielder based on one amazing playoff series with the Astros in 2004 and comments that Beltran has been “65 to 70 % of what he was.”

On David Wright he’s a little less harsh than I would have liked but nonetheless he calls the Mets third basemen and supposed face of the franchise a “Really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”

Really Fred? David Wright’s not a superstar? I wouldn’t have guessed from his amazing stat line this season. (.226,.337,.404,.741) By the way, he’s also on pace for over 200 strikeouts. I mean these numbers don’t exactly scream out “very good player” either.

Fred may have taken the foot off the gas pedal regarding David Wright but let’s be honest. Everything Fred said is true and it needed to be said. The Mets and any other team in baseball would be absolutely stupid to give Reyes Carl Crawford money especially given his injury history and the tendency for a player like that to break down. Not only that, but Jose Reyes seems like the kind of player who given a big contract would crack under the pressure to perform, not unlike Jason Bay is cracking oh so mightily right now.

In terms of Carlos Beltran, Fred is a bit too harsh. Beltran did have great 100 RBI seasons for the Mets, hitting in the clutch but because of his knees now he is a shell of his former self.

And then….there’s David Wright. I have been waiting so long for Mets fans to finally turn on David Wright. It hasnt happened yet but gosh it should happen soon if he keeps performing the way he is. How can a guy who never performs in the big spot, never gets a key hit in the key situation with runners on base be the face of the franchise? You can talk about all the off the field stuff, all the the charities all you want and I’m not dismissing that. But the fact is the guy is mostly paid to perform on the field and he doesn’t perform up to the expectations the franchise expects him to. For a third place hittter, for a guy who regularly hits for a high average and high on base percentage (barring this season) he strikes out at the rate of Adam Dunn. And all too often those strikeouts come with men on base. His RISP numbers are nothing to write home about. I mean right now it looks like he’s on pace for as bad a season as he had in 2009. A face of the franchise can’t play like this. A face of the franchise can’t be so inconsistent. In interviews he can talk all he wants about expectations for himself and the disappointment in how he’s performed so far. Well how about correcting it already? What is the hitting coach paid for? The MO with this team has become its inability to hit i the clutch and that’s why they lose ballgames. And it starts with David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran. The general message from Fred is that these players and this team has underperformed. Reyes and Beltran are gone so there’s no accountability there. But hopefully its a challenge to David Wright’s pride to perform up to his talent level.

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